Spend all your cash on the biggest engine rather than buying the extra toys on the options list

But there is one rule to buying a BMW I must share with you.

Avoid the toys on the options list, of which there are many, and spend all your cash on the biggest engine.

The 420i (180hp) and 430i (252hp) are clean and efficient 2-litre, four-cylinder petrols and will do perfectly fine. But the 440i? Now that’s a cracker.

BMW doesn’t make life easy when it comes to badges but the 440i is a 3-litre, turbocharged straight-six, banging out a meaty 326hp.

It does 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds, sounds ace and the standard eight-shift auto is short-shift heaven. I say you can’t beat a six-cylinder lump for balance – it’s streets ahead of everything else and screams: “I was made just for you.”